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Image Source: By Zscout370 and Alex Covarrubias. Based on the arms by Juan Gabino. Public domain. Wikimedia Commons.

This guide was constructed for Dr. Schroeder's HIS 305 class--History of Mexico.

Mexican History

This course explores how the perplexing, fascinating, and increasingly important country of Mexico came to be what it is today.

Major themes include the rich complexity of the pre-colonial period; the seigniorial nature of colonial society and the role of indigenous peoples; Mexico’s position in the global capitalist economy; regional and geographic diversity; the role of the state; and the roles played by ordinary people organized in social movements and in civil society.

We begin by surveying some key developments in contemporary Mexican history before reaching back to the pre-colonial and colonial periods, the transition to independence (ca. 1808-1821), the Age of Anarchy (ca. 1824-1855), the period of La Reforma (ca. 1855-1876), the Porfiriato (1876-1910), the Mexican Revolution (1910-20), the consolidation of the national state and the rise of the PRI in the 1920s & 30s, up to the Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas (starting in 1994).The foregoing represents the first half of the course.

The second half of the course will be given over to you, the student, in a series of individual and team-based presentations on specific aspects of Mexican history.